Bugscope Assignment

Michelle Pitzl

EDUC 140

October 15, 2005

• Beetles are a part of the Coleoptera family which comes from a word meaning “sheath” for their hind wings.

• Beetles have an incredible ability to adapt to any environment which ensures us they will exist much longer than human beings.

Picture of beetle seen through the naked eye.

• In addition to being associated with several different plants, they can be found in land and fresh-water habitats such as logs or under bark, in fungi, in mud, in decaying plant and animal matter, in water, in stored food, in bird and mammal nests, and in termite nests.

• Adult beetles range in size from 0.01 to almost 8 inches in body length, but antennae of some are much longer than their bodies. Beetles usually have hard bodies, but sometimes they are leathery or even have soft bodies.

• Most beetles are dark brown or black, but many are red, blue, green, purple or a combination of colors and can be smooth or hairy.

• Beetles usually have two sets of wings, the hard front wings and the soft hind wings for flying. http://www.betterpestcontrol.com/

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• Beetles feed as scavengers on dead plants and animals. Other species feed on fungi or mold, and a few are parasitic on other insects or vertebrate animals.

• Did you know there are more species of beetles on Earth than there are plants?!

Beetle’s leg magnified at 2560 where you are capable of seeing the beetle’s setae.

http://bugscope.itg.uiuc.edu/members/2005-029/

Helpful Websites• Amazing Insects website:

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/beetles.html

• Wonderful World of Insects website:

http://www.earthlife.net/insects/six.html

National Science Education Standards

• Content Standard C

• Grades K-4

• Organisms and their environments

• All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.

http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/beetleflying.gif

Using Technologies

• Teachers can use technologies such as microscopes and ESEM’s in order to further the learning of their students.

• Students can take the information they have been given and use technology to put it into a power point presentation as a means of applying what they have learned.

• In using the microscopes, teachers are able to show their students that a bug is made up of so many different things. They can show magnified slides of certain insects and have children guess what the insect is being displayed.

Three Literature Sources• One recommended source is “Beetles

and Bugs” by A.J. Wood and Maurice Pledger. Offers a touch-and-feel adventure for children ages 4-6.

• A second recommended book is “The Beetle Alphabet Book” by Jerry Pallotta and David Bierdrzycki. A book that uses various letters of the alphabet to introduce different beetles

• The third recommended book is “Bugs, Beetles, and Butterflies by Harriet Ziefert and Lisa Flather. It is a book that uses rhymed text and illustrations to introduce bugs, beetles and butterflies.

http://browse.barnesandnoble.com

Applying the Bugscope Activity

• The bugscope can be applied as a creative writing activity where students look at a picture of a magnified bug and guess what part or what type of insect it may be.

• Another activity used from the bugscopes to enhance learning is offering an opportunity like we had to chat online. That way students can ask questions and get the answers they are looking for from professionals. http://www.cemes.fr/Services/

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